tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76990702012-04-15T23:36:01.819-05:00Ob´e`lus n. 1. (Print.) A mark [thus m, or ÷]; - so called as resembling a needle. In old MSS. or editions of the classics, it marks suspected passages or readings.obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-42095253810929702712009-01-20T18:39:00.004-06:002009-01-21T10:07:31.167-06:00

Barack Hussein Obama has become The President. He has also become the avatar of a New Politics. A small number of years ago, a man outside the mold of The Old Politics becoming the Executive would have been a slim statistical possibility existing only because it was not circumscribed by word in the Constitution. It is not simply a matter of race. Many have been made outside the mold of the

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-81833264028977001572008-08-30T08:58:00.009-05:002008-09-01T13:06:22.658-05:00

August 28, 2008 - BILL'S BLUES, Evanston, IL I met Bill, actually two Bills, at Bill's Blues. "Are you Bill?” I asked as I swung on to a stool by a man with glasses and a laptop sitting at the bar. "Yes, my name is Bill, I help book the acts, but the Bill you're thinking of is either in the office or taking a nap." Pointing at the website's calendar page he continued, "Describe for me 'Lively

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-72292865007794262852008-06-30T19:03:00.006-05:002008-08-31T08:10:34.054-05:00

In 1912, in Shreveport, Louisiana around the time when the Titanic went under, Leadbelly, a local musician would maneuver into a tavern with a guitar and a small accordion to ply his trade. Instead of a using a PA, he would start with a opened-tuned 12-string in G and an “Oh…” delivered booming and straight at the folks gathered there. “The Midnight Special” a song knocking around for years

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1153690038227039692006-07-23T16:23:00.000-05:002006-07-23T20:57:41.310-05:00

What if back when the political situation was stalemated in Iraq, when there was no government in place, no end in sight to the factional violence, and military options getting fewer and fewer, what if a broader scope for the War of Terror had been contemplated? We know that both the President and the Secretary of State began systematically escalating their rhetoric against Iran and Syria some

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1153623090222781002006-07-22T21:49:00.000-05:002006-07-23T17:03:55.993-05:00

Abominable.Truly biblical—no, pre-biblical times when civilians everywhere look to the heavens and declare the Gods are quarrelling, when in fact these are not Gods—this is not Godlike—these are men—foolish, wealthy men—fighting over their supposed interest in property...commodities.Religion.Morality.Commerce and trade.Wealth without end. Amen. Amen.Civilians. The word no longer exists. And

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1136095040129316482005-12-31T23:31:00.000-06:002006-07-22T23:09:11.676-05:00

Here is hoping it is a bold new year. As someone has said, "Here is hoping we have many sweet victories in 2006." I sure want some. And not just easy ones. I have already rung in the new year. It was early for me. The Household made it 8:00PM so everyone would be in proper attendance. Then we tended to it. We ate a wonderful meal, put promises in a box for next year. We slowly put away

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1130688712893912012005-10-30T09:34:00.000-06:002005-11-02T00:59:51.480-06:00

If the U.S. Gub'mint or institutions tied to it such as Freddie Mac should indeed function more as a large corporation, as a few of the Libertarian brethren suggest, then first we have to look at what government produces. It produces Social Security checks and weaponry. It also operates an exclusive franchise in collecting federal taxes and does a little side business in legislation, although

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1122411079479717602005-07-26T15:51:00.000-05:002005-07-26T16:02:38.486-05:00

President Bush Restricts Disclosures to the CongressThe President perhaps writes better than he speaks. I found a well written, concise, superbly spelled and punctuated letter that he wrote in October of 2001 reminding his cabinet level officers to not release any classified or sensitive law enforcement information to Members of Congress. The executive order was put in place until further

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1121643071310491762005-07-17T18:11:00.000-05:002005-07-18T10:52:42.910-05:00

The follwing is a letter written by my father, Phil St.John, to Faiza Al-Araji, an Iraqi blogger and mother of three sons who all actively blog. My Dad is true "compassionate conservative" who back in 1990 served on a mission to Haiti and has been very active in promoting energy conservation for over 30 years. Ms. Al-Araji contributes to A Family in Baghdad along with Khalid Jarrar of "Tell Me

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1120924804411471032005-07-09T09:47:00.000-05:002005-07-09T11:06:01.010-05:00

Last night I gigged out in Berwyn, IL with Erin O'Toole. Friendly's Tap is a small, workingclass juke-joint with a pool table, a poker machine, homemade deviled eggs out on the bar fresh from the walk-in cooler, and a handful of patrons eying the baseball game and nursing their drinks (i.e., my kind of place). My friend Kris Nichols came out and got up to do some tunes. He did his originals "

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1120804226628177982005-07-08T01:23:00.000-05:002005-07-09T13:06:13.316-05:00

We arrived at the steps of the 21st century with our superior air power, our missiles, our artillery, our highly trained professional fighting units and found the new warfare was muddle headed youth with virtually no training, little aptitude, and satchels of plastic explosives. Are we ready for the fight?For at least two generations what we have heard every four years is re-heated rhetoric

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1120791104430569142005-07-07T21:44:00.000-05:002005-07-08T17:22:57.503-05:00

Interesting...an oil swap is underway between Iran and Iraq. In exchange for 380,000 barrels per day of oil, Iran will provide oil derivatives along the same pipeline. "We are planning to export kerosene and diesel to Iraq," [Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh] said, adding that the oil swap project has to be conducted via the key port of Basra, in the southeast of the war-torn

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1120793070047519382005-07-01T21:55:00.000-05:002005-07-08T17:52:33.090-05:00

GDP increased 3.8% the BEA reported recently. Or did it? Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture thinks it doesn't quite have that new car smell. Add this to the old debate on what the real unemployment number is and what the real rate of inflation is and pretty soon you begin to figure out what happened to all those imaginative Dungeons and Dragons enthusiasts you went to high school with: they

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1119243350746060562005-06-19T23:52:00.000-05:002005-07-08T08:45:28.410-05:00

I originally posted this as a comment at Winds of Change a while back. I still believe in it, more or less...If the Democratic party must surrender to pragmatic venture capitalists with neo-liberal ideas born in their heads when they used to follow The Dead, the country will be the worse for it. I sincerely hope that leftists wanting to start up a think tank so they may sit around and pow-wow

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1119235707373004132005-06-19T21:45:00.000-05:002005-07-08T09:03:15.636-05:00

I don't know how to say this. I didn't give a hang about politics in any real way when Clinton was elected. I voted for him; 'thought it the right thing to do was all. Then the whole fiery impeachement battle started in and I tried to get my mind around it best I could. To my mind, Clinton should have never been deposed in the Paula Jones case. It stank. It was like knocking on the door and

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1117898764194486122005-06-04T09:17:00.000-05:002005-06-04T11:45:19.043-05:00

Secretary of "Defense" Donald Rumsfeld speaking to reporters in Singapore said today that China needlessly projects power.Asked for comment, China rolled her eyes and murmered, "Oh, that is...rich.* * *In other news, President Bush recently told reporters that Amnesty International's assertion that Guantanamo represents a "Gulag for our time" was "absurd".Asked to comment, a detainee straining to

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1116399407982985182005-05-18T00:53:00.000-05:002005-05-18T02:54:20.770-05:00

"Grits On The Griddle", the title song off of HomeKookin's second CD ended the evening. How the evening got started I'm not so sure due to I wandered in late. Not too late though to play with Barry at the top of the list. No sooner stroll in, say hi to Fred but Barry says he's 1st up, would I play on some tunes? Yes. Yes I shall. We play Greg Techer's tune "Look to the Highway", "Served The

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1115012869234469472005-05-02T00:47:00.000-05:002005-05-15T21:00:56.243-05:00

It seems to me that as long as we have an irrational fear of WMDs we will be subject to irrational response to their threat. While it is true that a place like Halabja suffered horrible destruction from a chemical weapons attack, that attack was a sustained one involving several hours and multiple sorties. In that instance, the chemical weapons were dropped all through the night. Can we really

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1110679078358837262005-03-12T18:13:00.000-06:002005-03-12T21:22:58.903-06:00

Home is where the soup is made. The Wife is in the kitchen making chicken soup with The Kid providing accompaniment. They seem to be performing some crazy sort of musical production number. "All I want is chicken soup, and you to eat it with me", The Wife sings. Well, it must be—it has to be a tribute to the old David Soul seventies album sleeper "All I Want Is Black Bean Soup (And You To Eat

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1106864774892454752005-01-27T15:31:00.000-06:002005-01-27T18:24:20.196-06:00

Mr. Karl Rove Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the President The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. Rove, It has come to my attention that the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government and the Agencies under its Administration are endeavoring to spread the Gospel of Our Leader's vision for His glorious second term in new, innovative ways. As

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1106402265300304152005-01-22T07:10:00.000-06:002005-01-27T18:30:56.550-06:00

Note: any information contained in this post is intended for entertainment and amusement purposes and is compliant with the artistic license issued to me as a practicing songwriter and beloved entertainer to dozens. It in no way is intended to invoke the (720 ILCS 300/) Derogatory Statements About Banks Act. Besides, it is all true. Yeah, it's lousy having to look for work in the Bush Economy

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1106280648989646682005-01-20T21:40:00.000-06:002005-01-21T09:21:56.863-06:00

Weeks of search = 37 Number of weeks of unemployment benefits per Illinois law = 26 Number of resumes sent out = 227 Number of followups = 161 Number of total interactions with potential employers = 408 Number of interviews = 27 Number of 2nd interviews = 8 Number of 3rd interviews = 2 Number of 4th interviews = 1 Number of offers = 0 Ratio of responses to total interactions = 11.8%

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1105849797320867092005-01-15T21:46:00.000-06:002005-01-16T19:14:36.420-06:00

Baghdad Burning has a new post up. She has an excuse for posting infrequently as there have been constant electrical shortages over in her neck of the woods. The post is a fresh snapshot of what conditions are like in pre-election Iraq and she ruminates on the recent news that there were no WMDs in Iraq after all, and in the War on Terror in General. An excerpt: I hope Americans feel good

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1105574697774766492005-01-12T18:03:00.000-06:002005-01-22T16:09:46.973-06:00

If the crisis is as serious as it sounds on the TV news where anchors are sounding like your Aunt Eunice explaining that your Great Uncle Hal no longer recognizes people and Jesus is soon coming to get him, then lets not dick around. A risky scheme like having young people?! select investment options?! What if they select Mary Kate and Ashley as their investment counselors? What if they place

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699070.post-1101280661673860572004-11-24T01:16:00.000-06:002004-11-25T05:09:58.983-06:00

Another Tuesday night at the Abbey Pub open mic. The glorious redhead Erin O’Toole made an appearance and lent her mischievous magic and winsome voice to the proceedings. Rick Wells, Greg Steele, Jay Reynolds, Herbie Gaines—lots of regulars out. Rhiannon was in from Fort Wayne. She told stories of being a democratic poll watcher in a Red State, real front lines stuff. A good night of music

obelushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17436534389487788239noreply@blogger.com0